


No...

by lovingdarkness



Series: Borderlands - Rhys n Anna [1]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, F/M, I did my best, Not Beta Read, one hell of a way to start valentine posting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 11:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9721583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovingdarkness/pseuds/lovingdarkness
Summary: Rhys wishes he would have kissed her sooner, gone after her the moment he knew something was wrong. Anna knew she was ready to die and would be damned if she wasn't going to protect her friends. -An alternate ending for a story I wouldn't mind putting time and effort into sometime in the future.-





	

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know how I did and feel free to tell me how bad I did. I am working on my writing and I'm a little rusty. I hope you enjoy. :)

The smell of burnt metal filled the air as the battle with the traveler came to a close. Rhys breathed for what felt the first time in years and he couldn’t believe how relieved he felt that Sasha was going to live. The fear of his friends lives at risk was settled and he could finally loosen the tightness in his shoulders. But something else came to his senses, a smell that caused his stomach to turn and roll for a different reason. It didn’t help that once he came down from the high of battle, that he could finally see the carnage. 

  


Blood. Lots of blood. That is what Rhys saw as his eyes wandered over the battlefield looking for anything. For anyone of his friends, but especially Anna. A year had passed and he still couldn’t shake what she had wanted to tell him while they were in close proximity of each other at the dome. The way she looked in the low light, the way he felt a fire in the pit of his gut. The way he wanted to taste her, to kiss her and never let her go. She slipped through his fingers once and he would be damned if he ever let her go again. Why the sudden remembrance of the memory of her coming to the forefront of his mind? He wasn’t sure, but it definitely caused him to suddenly realize that she was nowhere to be seen.

  


Nothing else mattered in these small moments of reprieve. The vault was found, Gortys was safe, and Sasha was going to live. So why did he get the feeling that things weren’t okay, that something was off and this feeling of dread wasn’t just his imagination playing tricks on him? He decided to shake things off and return to the others that were now looming over Sasha, all smiles and laughs as everything sort of began to return to normal. The vault was in their grasps, at last, all was good. That is until everyone's eyes darted to a now looming loader bot, with what appeared to be a… body.

  


“No…” Gortys was the first to speak as she dashed off towards loader bot. The small robot appeared to be distraught as she drew closer, coming to assess the damage. “No no no - please no.” The figure was stiff in Lb’s arms as he lowered the body down to the ground. Rhys and the others were frozen to the spot, unable to move, unable to process what was happening. Annabell was an extraordinary fighter, capable of handling any close call situation she came across- no one thought to worry that she might be over her head. This time, it looked like she had. Red locks became loose, falling over her shoulders. Her shirt was torn across her chest, blood smeared like a claw mark. Her right robotic arm was torn from its socket, only a gaping, bleeding hole, remained in its place.

  


“I should've known it was her.” Sasha walked slowly over, remembering slowly that someone had come to her rescue. “I didn’t recognize who it was but I should’ve known it was her.” She held her right arm as she continued to walk over to the scene.

  


LB had finally stepped between Gortys and Anna. To his dislike, but Gortys was clearly distraught and trying her hardest to help stop the bleeding. “I am sorry Gortys, but there is nothing we can do. The damage is already done.”

  


“No, she can’t die. No…”

Anna opened her eyes slowly. Her cracked masked making it hard to see or show emotion, but she didn’t mind. She just wanted to see her dear friend. “It’s alright Gortys.” Her left arm moved to hold her hand, Gortys held on desperately. She took this opportunity to remove her mask, to discard that part of her that she no longer wanted to hold onto. “You’re safe. Everyones… everyone’s safe. We did good.” Rhys came closer, they all did. He felt a mixture of anger and regret. Regret that he didn’t even try to tell her that he felt the same, and anger for not giving in to his fears sooner. His eyes traced Anna’s now visible scar; deep eridium purple slicing through her face, left eye blind and scarred, but her bright blue eye, her real one, was even brighter than the mask had let on. She looked even more beautiful. He wanted to berate himself for even thinking of such thoughts, but if he didn’t, he knew he’d only feel lost.

  


“It wasn’t supposed to be this way.” Fiona finally chirped in, “No one was supposed to get hurt.”

  


Anna chuckled which caused blood to run from her lips, “it never is kiddo. But that’s the risk we take right.” She rested her head back against the dirt ground, everything beginning to feel heavy and cold. “That’s Pandora for you, it never goes the way you think it should go.”

  


“You didn’t have to do that, you could have just let me bite the bullet.” Sasha leaned down, gently reaching Anna’s arm.

  


This brought another chuckle from Anna’s lips, “what is it some jackass said, I’m the hero baby... it’s part of the job.”

  


“Anna…” Rhys leaned down at this point. Her breathing was becoming shallow and he just needed to do something, anything, he didn’t want this to be goodbye. Not now. Not when she’s back in his life again. But she’s slipping and he knows this… “We just need to get you back to Helios, you’ll be fine… we just need to get you back to Cassius…”

  


She held up her hand, reaching for his. “It’s okay Rhys. I just… I need to sleep for a bit.”

  


“No…” Anna squeezed his hand as best she could. She felt so cold. He leaned down, he was going to do nothing. The tears returned and as best as he tried to hold them off, they came anyway. “No Anna, you’re going to… to be fine. Just, please… Don’t…”

  


Her voice was barely above a whisper now, breathing becoming harder and harder. Kissing his cheek, “take care of Gortys.” He nodded, “and Rhys…” She whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek once more. Laying back down before shutting her eyes. Letting out one final breath.

  
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but sometimes you don’t always get a happy ending on Pandora.


End file.
